Blyth armed raider told sentence will not be cut

ARELENTLESS thief who terrified a supermarket worker by pulling a blade when he was caught in the act has been told by judges that his jail term was not a day too long.

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A RELENTLESS thief who terrified a supermarket worker by pulling a blade when he was caught in the act has been told by judges that his jail term was not a day too long.

Wayne Davison, 30, already had over 100 convictions for theft, bu rglary and violence to his name when he brandished a knife at an Asda employee in Blyth, Northumberland, when challenged after blatantly walking out of the supermarket with a stolen TV.

Davison, of Princess Louise Road in Blyth, was jailed for two years at Newcastle Crown Court in June last year after pleading guilty to theft and possession of an offensive weapon.

Now Lord Justice Pitchford, Mr Justice Fulford and Mr Justice Turner, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, heard him ask for that sentence to be reduced, arguing he was treated too harshly.

The court heard that Davison warned store detective Terry Allsopp to stop following him after walking out of the Blyth branch of Asda with a television in January last year.

When Mr Allsopp persisted, he pulled out a knife with a six-inch blade from the waistband of his trousers, causing his pursuer to retreat.

Davison argued that his sentence was too long after a guilty plea, but Lord Justice Pitchford said: “Firm treatment was required to deal with the escalation in Davison’s offending.

“A shoplifter who takes a knife with him and produces it when confronted is a short step away from a finding of dangerousness. It cannot begin to be said that two years was excessive and this application must be refused.”

At the original case last December, Davison was jailed for two years but also banned from all of Asda’s stores in Northumberland.

Judge Simon Hickey said: “What aggravates your position is that you have no fewer than 145 previous offences and, by my calculation, 87 are for theft. Clearly, I must take into consideration the serious persistent offending.”

Davison had also asked for a further five shoplifting offences – all from Asda – to be taken into consideration.